NAIROBI, Kenya, September 6- The new Kenya national rugby sevens coach will be unveiled in the week of Sept. 23, the domestic union chairman, Mwangi Muthee confirmed on Friday.
Fresh reports had indicated that Paul Treu, the man tipped to be announced to the position who was the South Africa head coach until July, would be formally named Friday.
But Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) boss said they had pushed back the announcement to allow the conclusion of the domestic sevens series this weekend as well as the annual Safari Sevens international invitational tournament that is scheduled for Sep. 21 and 22.
“We will formally introduce our new coach after the Safari Sevens. We were not ready to name him and we want to give our national team time to prepare for the Safari sevens under temporally coach, Felix Ochieng.
“Ochieng will continue to be the assistant to the new coach and we have discussed all terms and requirements to bring him here. Unlike Friday, he will be based in Nairobi so that he can coordinate the development of sevens,” the chairman said on Friday.
English born Friday resigned in late July after leading the nation to their second Sevens Rugby World Cup semi-final appearance where Kenya topped Africa by finishing fourth.
Under the former England coach, Kenya got their highest ever tally of 99 points as the country became a major force in the annual IRB World Sevens Series.
Chris Brown, the New Zealand fitness and condition coach brought by Friday also resigned at the same time with the new man at the helm expected to assemble a technical bench mixed with local and foreign coaches.
Despite his wide approval, Friday quit under a cloud with the immediate former coach blaming some board members of the Union for frustrating his programmes.
“The interference from certain individuals have made it impossible for Chris and I to run a professional performance programme. Our view is that they have continually sabotaged and compromised our strategy and planning; this has not been in the best interests of Kenya 7s Rugby.”
“It is clear to me that, throughout the RWC, and subsequently, actions taken by certain individuals in key positions have undermined the squad’s strategy, preparation and ultimately performance. Planning and running a truly professional performance programme is impossible to do with the constant compromises, interference and sabotage that occur,” was his parting shot when he announced his resignation.
The new boss will be tasked with maintain Kenya’s status as one of the core teams or the IRB Series and bag a first ever series win at the annual tour that kicks off in December.
With rugby sevens part of the 2016 Olympics roster, the head coach will also lay a foundation to ensure Kenya qualifies for Rio as a medal prospect with the team keen to break athletics monotony as the country’s only source for medals.
